Jono selected as new Music Director of Greater New Bedford Choral Society

The following is excerpted from the GNBCS press release of 1 April, 2017

The Greater New Bedford Choral Society has announced the appointment of Adamsville, Rhode Island resident Jonathan F. Babbitt as Music Director of the 53-year-old ensemble, effective with the 2017 - 2018 season. The group maintains a rigorous rehearsal schedule, and offers repertoire from major choral works to Renaissance motets, European part-songs and contemporary American offerings. The ensemble offers both a cappella and accompanied performances, and works with local instrumental forces from time to time. About his appointment, Babbitt said “I am delighted and honored to take the podium of a group so dedicated to the choral art, and a group that has been so lovingly cared for and nurtured by retiring Music Director Gerry Dyck”.

Jonathan Babbitt holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Yale University and the Yale School of Music. Active as a teacher, clinician, conductor, recitalist, adjudicator and composer, Mr. Babbitt has appeared across the United States, Canada, and Europe as both organist and conductor, performing repertoire from the Renaissance to the contemporary. His compositions have premiered at the prestigious International Contemporary Music Festival in Bonn, Germany, and at Connecticut and Rhode Island Music Educator's Association events here in the United States.

Babbitt has more than two dozen published recordings to his credit, including Benjamin Britten's War Requiem; the Verdi Requiem; Mozart’s Grand Mass, Litanies of the Holy Sacrament of the Altar, Requiem, and assorted shorter works; Handel's Messiah; John Rutter's Magnificat, Te Deum, Gloria and Requiem; Bach's Magnificat, and three CDs of a capella part songs with the Chamber Singers of Swanhurst Chorus, which he conducted for 26 years.

In addition to his work at with the Choral Society, Mr. Babbitt holds concurrent appointments as Director of Choral Activities at Mitchell College in New London, Connecticut, Music Director of the Litchfield County Choral Union at the Yale Summer School of Music and Art in Norfolk, Connecticut, and Music Director of the New England Sacred Camerata, based in Adamsville, Rhode Island, where, together with mezzo-soprano Allison Messier, he maintains Sakonnet Music, a private teaching, recording and consulting enterprise.

Mr. Babbitt has also announced the establishment of a select Chamber group to be drawn from the larger body of the Choral Society. This smaller, select ensemble will offer more intimate repertoire, and be available for community outreach, service organizations and private events.

Singers interested in participating in the 2017 - 2018 season should contact the Choral Society at info@gnbcs.org.